Reggae Kinda Sweet

Join us for the exhibition launch Saturday 20th October 4pm - 7pm including introduction from Edson Burton

From Burning Spear in 1985 to Big Youth in 2011, this unique exhibition 'Reggae Kinda Sweet' documents how Reggae music in it's tributaries of sound, has changed and renewed itself over the decades.

To coincide with Black History Month and celebrating Jamaican Independence, The Trinity Centre and OOM Gallery Archive presents an exhibition by acclaimed photographer Pogus Caesar. Featuring largely unpublished images of musical icons and showcasing an exclusive exhibition of rare and nostalgic archive photographs of legendary Reggae musicians.

These images conjure up an alphabet of the music from Jamaica, connecting the UK, journeying from Dennis Brown, Mighty Diamonds and Jimmy Cliff to Augustus Pablo via the mighty Lee 'Scratch' Perry.

Author and historian Paul Gilroy comments "From the outside, bubbling up from the under-ground, the music voiced demands for recognition. On the inside, the dubby, sinuous sounds of this bass culture nurtured a rebel mentality and celebrated love: militant and romantic, sexual and communal. Pogus Caesar's archive directs renewed attention to that history. A sequence of eventful moments is frozen. Our stars, our legends and our determinedly unknown are glimpsed on stage and off, by day and night. In motion and in action. Their militant activity pushes restlessly onwards, making spaces of healing and finding answers to suffering."

In a 30-year career of taking pictures, Pogus Caesar has uniquely captured moments of everyday life with a simple Canon 35mm film camera, spontaneously recording the unfamiliar, as well as the celebrated and the iconic.

The photographs selected from OOM Gallery Archive are also as much about the clubs and venues, as it is about the singers, producers and musicians, many venues now lost to regeneration or renewal, and only recalled through memory and imagery. Black Uhuru at The Tower Ballroom, Sly Dunbar at The Hummingbird Club,  Mad Professor and Maxi Priest at Reggae Sunsplash in London.

The exhibition will be open daily between Wednesday 17th October until Friday 2nd November (Mon - Fri 10am - 6pm / Sat - Sun 11am - 4pm)